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Kenya is set to strengthen digital connectivity along its Indian Ocean coastline following the launch of the LuLu Coastal Cable System, the country’s first fully protected coastal submarine cable network.
The system was unveiled at ITW Africa 2026 and is being developed by INDOI Ltd, Blue Trade Investments Limited, ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP), AfriTrade Consulting Group and Kingdom Bank Limited.
The project will connect strategic landing points along Kenya’s approximately 500-kilometre coastline, linking the coastal corridor from Mombasa to Lamu.
According to a statement from INDOI Ltd on Wednesday, the planned landing points include Mombasa, Vipingo Special Economic Zone (VSEZ), Kilifi and Malindi, creating a dedicated digital infrastructure network along the country’s coast.
LuLu designed for resilience and network availability
The LuLu Coastal Cable System combines a submarine cable laid along the ocean floor with a parallel protected terrestrial route.
Its dual-path architecture is intended to improve network resilience, redundancy and availability for governments, international telecommunications operators, data-centre companies and other organisations that depend on mission-critical connectivity.
The system will use dense wavelength division multiplexing technology in the 1550-nanometre window, with 144 fibre pairs and a design capacity of up to 60 terabits per second per fibre pair.
The cable is designed for an operational lifespan of 25 years and will feature centralised network management. The project is expected to be ready for service in the second quarter of 2028, subject to the execution of the necessary contracts.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of INDOI Ltd, Arunachalam Kandasamy, said the project would address a longstanding digital infrastructure gap along Kenya’s coast.
“East Africa is not a market of the future — it is a market of right now,” Kandasamy said. “Kenya’s coastal corridor, from Mombasa to Lamu, is one of the most dynamic, strategically significant and commercially compelling stretches of coastline on the planet. And yet, until today, it has never had a single, unified, fully protected digital infrastructure system designed specifically for it.”
Kandasamy said the LuLu system would provide a permanent digital backbone for the coastal corridor.
Vipingo SEZ positioned for digital investment
Blue Trade Investments Limited, INDOI’s Kenya-registered infrastructure partner, will serve as the designated cable landing party, regulatory interface and operational delivery partner for the project in Kenya.
The company’s relationships with Kenyan regulators, coastal communities and government institutions are expected to support local implementation and the long-term operation of the system.
The landing of the cable at Vipingo SEZ is also expected to expand the zone’s investment potential beyond conventional manufacturing and logistics.
Direct submarine cable connectivity could support the development of hyperscale data centres, regional cloud-service nodes, business-process outsourcing and global business-services campuses, fintech and payment-processing platforms, cybersecurity operations centres and Internet of Things-enabled manufacturing services.
The country head of ARISE IIP Kenya, George Olaka, said the cable would strengthen Vipingo SEZ’s ambition to operate as an integrated industrial and digital platform.
“Vipingo SEZ was never intended to be a conventional industrial zone,” Olaka said. “We are building it as a platform where industry, logistics, value addition and digital infrastructure can reinforce each other.”
According to Olaka, LuLu could improve the zone’s ability to attract technology-driven companies alongside manufacturers and help position Kenya’s coast as an industrial and digital growth corridor.
Vipingo SEZ is being developed as a major industrial and digital platform with the potential to mobilise up to $3 billion in investment.
Digital infrastructure gains financial-sector backing
The project has also received support from Kingdom Bank Limited, highlighting the growing role of digital infrastructure in supporting investment and economic activity.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kingdom Bank Limited, Anthony Mburu, said the bank was pleased to support Blue Trade Investments Limited as the project advances.
“Blue Trade Investments Limited is a valued client of Kingdom Bank, and we are pleased to support its growth and expansion,” Mburu said. “The LuLu Cable System highlights the increasing importance of digital infrastructure in driving investment, connectivity and economic activity along Kenya’s coast.”
The project links telecommunications infrastructure with broader economic development objectives, particularly in areas such as data centres, financial technology, cloud services and digital businesses that require reliable high-capacity connectivity.
Regulatory execution critical to project delivery
AfriTrade Consulting Group said the success of the project would depend on effective regulatory, licensing and commercial execution.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Dr Caroline Saroni, said AfriTrade had helped introduce VSEZ and INDOI and had provided advice on transaction structuring, regulatory clearance, compliance and onboarding.
“A project of LuLu’s ambition succeeds only when vision is matched by careful execution,” Saroni said.
She said the cable could help unlock investment opportunities across Kenya’s coast, Vipingo SEZ and the LAPSSET corridor.
With its combination of submarine and terrestrial routes, the LuLu system is being positioned as more than a connectivity project. Its planned infrastructure could provide additional capacity and resilience for businesses and digital services while supporting Kenya’s ambitions to develop the coast as a technology, industrial and investment corridor.
INDOI, headquartered in Mauritius, is the developer, owner and commercial operator of the LuLu Cable System.
Blue Trade Investments Limited is a Kenya-registered investment company focused on emerging opportunities in the ICT sector, while Kingdom Bank Limited, a subsidiary of The Co-operative Bank of Kenya, provides financial services to individuals and businesses, with a particular focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
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